You have read the stories of some incredible savers here. Ronald Read, Geoffrey Holt, and Terry Kahn are all in Your Survival Guy’s Save Til It Hurts Hall of Fame. So what makes them so great? Read, a gas station attendant, amassed a fortune of $8 million. Holt gave $3.2 million to his town when he passed away. And Kahn left an astounding $13 million to charity when he died. The totals they amassed despite relatively normal jobs and lifestyles are impressive.
Recently, Fidelity released a quarterly study of 401(k) savings, and here’s what they found for the average balance by age for Americans.
401(k) Balance by Age
Age Balance 20-24 $7,700 25-29 $26,600 30-34 $51,700 35-39 $81,600 40-44 $120,100 45-49 $163,200 50-54 $215,700 55-59 $260,800 60-64 $257,400 65-69 $258,800 70+ $264,500 Source: Fidelity Investments Q2 2026 401(k) data based on 26,800 corporate defined contribution plans and 25.6 million participants as of March 31, 2026. These figures include the advisor-sold market but exclude the tax-exempt market. Excluded from the behavioral statistics are nonqualified defined contribution plans and plans for Fidelity’s own employees.
As Fidelity explains, it can be difficult to compare retirement savings across groups of people. They write:
Nailing down retirement savings by age can be difficult because people may have more than one retirement account, or money saved outside of 401(k)s and IRAs. Real estate, brokerage accounts, savings accounts, nonretirement CDs—and even health savings accounts—could all be earmarked for someone’s retirement. But a look at 401(k) and IRA balances can give you a rough measure of how you are doing compared to your peers.
It’s true that 401(k) savings aren’t the only savings Americans can have, but they often make up a large percentage of retirement savings for employees. As you can see, not everyone is saving like the aforementioned Hall of Famers.
Action Line: When you want help building a plan to save for retirement, email me at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com. And click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
Originally posted on Your Survival Guy.